my friend wants to have a clothing gemach

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My friend wants to have a clothing gemach

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Seraph

Tue, Aug 05 2008, 7:36 am

my freind in israel wants to have a clothing gemach with clothes from america. that americans would donate their old clothes to poor israelis that cant afford to buy clothes.
are there organizations in america that collect clothes and send it to different gemachim in israel? Or would she have to do it from scratch? any suggestions as to how she would go about doing these things?

sho770

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 5:08 am

She could put an announcement at the airport and/or in local shops so that travelling-visiting americans would see... and maybe leave their unneeded clothes that weigh too much in their luggage.

Their are americans living in cities like Jerusalem-Har Nof... thereÂ´s a place to try to contact local people for donations of clothes.

Does your friend already have a place to stock those clothes, an address to send them to?
I have an american sister-in-law.

greentiger

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 5:49 am

Can I make a suggestion? If she is getting clothes in from America, try and get someone OVER THERE to sort through the stuff to see what is worth sending and what wouldn't be worth the money of transport.

A few years ago, I helped sort a shipment of stuff from the states and I was appaled at some of the stuff that were sent: old bras and underwear, torn and stained clothing, that noone with an ounce of self respect would leave the house in, ripped shoes, etc. I admit I was offended that chutznikim think of Israeli's to stoop to a low enough level to wear someones torn underwear and then they probably feel all self ritious about it OTOH, its not entierly their fault since they just handed over a bag of old stuff they don't want and with a bit more planning on the side of the gemach they would have saved a lot of shipping money on bringing these stuff.

happyone

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 6:50 am

Bear in mind that getting people to bring over suitcases are almost a thing of the past. With the recent drugs found in both tefillin and other places (three boys in Japan) or that other guy in London etc.. More and more people are avoiding taking packages ever from people they know and trust.

Shipping the items is something she has to really think about before setting up such a g'mach. I'm sure collecting the clothes from America should be less difficult. I second what a previous poster said about sorting it prior to shipping.

OldYoung

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 10:03 am

My grandmother, ah had a clothing gemach and her rules were great and kept the gemach in great shape. All clothing had to be brought over on a hanger, no rips, stains, missing buttons, etc., and had to be not too dated (old). She sorted it quickly while the person who dropped it off was there, and handed back anything that she didn't think anyone who came to the gemach would take (with a thanks and a smile, of course!). If you have anyone in America who can take care of some sort of sorting along those lines, it would definitely be a big help to your gemach.

Twizzlers

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 10:29 am

I dont know about all over, but there is a big clothing gemach in flatbush that sends to israel

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